Hednesford were up for the FA Cup

Hednesford were not in the mood to give Middlesbrough anything from the moment their FA Cup bandwagon arrived at the Riverside Stadium.

It's now 15 years since the Pitmen, flying high in the Vauxhall Conference, travelled to tackle the then-Premier League side in the fourth round.

Over 6,000 Pitmen made the trip on 25 January 1997 for what was orginally a home tie, before the game was switched to Boro on police advice.

They watched the non-leaguers make a fist of it, leading for 12 minutes and then keeping the scores at 1-1 for over an hour, before losing 3-2.

All that was left was for the players to grab a momento of the occasion, a shirt from one of the backs of their illiustrious opponents.

Joe O'Connor got Gianluca Festa, Gary Fitzpatrick got Jan-Aage Fjortoft, Wayne Simpson got Juninho and Steve Essex got Fabrizio Ravanelli.

But there's was no chance of Ravanelli getting a Hednesford shirt as his own, quipped Pitmen boss and co-owner John Baldwin after the game.

He said: "I wouldn't have let him have one, they cost us nearly £25."

It remains the club's best cup run and, after much 'where are they now?' questioning, the players and staff from that day have been reunited.

It was the club's supporters association that made it happen, as fans took a trip down memory land in the function room at Keys Park.

Two-goal hero O'Connor was the ''team poacher' back then who worked in a chemical factory and, today, is still in the trade as a production manager.

The goal ace is now 44 but can play a bit, turning out for Wolverhampton Casuals when they were short of players a couple of weeks ago.

O'Connor stands tall as a Pitmen legend and remains the club's record goalscorer, post war, with 220 goals from 1990 to 1998.

It was over 20 years ago that he pulled on a Hednesford shirt for the first time but O'Connor insists the trip to the Riverside feels like "yesterday."

He said: "It never really hit me until you walked out on to the pitch and we took all we could get from it.

"The first goal was a loose ball, I just latched on to it and hit it on the turn, the next thing I know it's in the back of the net.

"We had a pre-planned dance, we all ran to the corner flag and did the limbo under it.

"Unfortunately, it was right in front of the Middlesbrough fans, but we still managed to do it.

"The second one was better, I managed to get a head on it and that was nice, right in front of the supporters.

"The fans cheered more for us after the game than when the goals went in, that's what the players remember and cherish."

Hednesford came within four minutes of forcing a replay, only to cave in to strikes from Fjortoft and Ravanelli.

They had been deadlocked for 61 minutes, after O'Connor's opener was cancelled out by captain Colin Lambert's own goal.

O'Connor hit the post with his team 2-1 down and grabbed a consolation to make it 3-2, but was happy to go out in a "blaze of glory."

He said: "Over the years, I have had many conversations with the supporters and maybe it was the best thing for us.

"We did well that day and, had we took them back to our place and got beat 3-0, it would have been a damp squib.

"People have different views about it, but I was happy to take that day."